Does anyone know anything about Gulf beaches in Alabama?

[punkin]

I have never been, but my sister wants to take a road trip with the kids down to the beach in August and Alabama has the closest beaches to Kansas City. I know nothing about what is there, what to do, or anything. Does anyone have any ideas?

 

[LuvN~Travel]

I have never been, but my sister wants to take a road trip with the kids down to the beach in August and Alabama has the closest beaches to Kansas City. I know nothing about what is there, what to do, or anything. Does anyone have any ideas?

Here's one link. Enjoy! http://gulfshores.com/
Kim

 

[ozarkmom]

Great area one of our favorite places to visit. The beaches are beautiful. Besides the beaches there is a waterpark/amusement park called Waterville USA. There is a small zoo, Go-karts, lots of great places to eat. You can hang out at the beach, fish, go on a dolphin cruise. There are some historical sites. I wish we were going back this year!

 

[arkansas mom]

Orange Beach is next door to Gulf Shores and is less touristy and crowded. Very family oriented and laid back. Beautiful. We always use the Phoenix condos through Brett Robinson rentals.

 

[jcsbama]

I LOVE Gulf Shores. We always stay on the Orange Beach side. We enjoy it because the water is great, it's more quiet than other tourist spots. We always come back relaxed and refreshed. We're not party people. When we go, our daily routine is to wake up, eat a bite in the room, head to the beach and/or pool for most of the day. Maybe take an afternoon nap. Go out to dinner, play miniature golf, play arcade games, go to a movie, shop. We usually take a full day to go to the Foley outlets. We haven't been since Hurrican Ivan, so I don't know how much has been rebuilt. From what I hear though, things look pretty good. I hope to get down there sometime this year though.

We always book through www.brett-robinson.com. They have specials like pay for 3 nights, stay for 4. We've also only stayed at Tidewater. They have numerous other properties to rent, but we love Tidewater. We have done the 1 bdrm and the 3 bdrom unit once when we had a big group. The 3 bdrm was great for a large crowd. We weren't crowded and everyone had plenty of room.

I think Gulf Shores is a great idea for a beach vacation to rest and relax and still get to do all the typical touristy stuff but with less crowd. You can PM if you need more info.

 

[stevenpensacola]

I'd agree with most of what the others have posted, except for the following:

the further west you go, less pretty the water gets, due to the proximity to Mobile Bay. The water at Gulf Shores is very rarely as pretty as the water in Destin, or even Pensacola Beach. The current along the coast usually flows east to west, so the water from Pensacola and Perdido Bays also affects the clarity of the water.

You'll still have a great time there. Just don't plan on arriving on a Friday afternoon/evening as the traffic heading down 59 to Gulf Shores can be pretty bad.

If you like history/aviation be sure to visit the National Museum of Naval Aviation aboard Pensacola Naval Air Station....and if you pick the right day, you can watch the Blue Angels practice their flying...and it's all FREE!!!

http://www.naval-air.org/intro.html

http://www.navy.com/about/navylife/onduty/blueangels/practice/

The base is about 30-40 minutes from Gulf Shores.

 

[horseshowmom]

I'd agree with most of what the others have posted, except for the following:

the further west you go, less pretty the water gets, due to the proximity to Mobile Bay. The water at Gulf Shores is very rarely as pretty as the water in Destin, or even Pensacola Beach. The current along the coast usually flows east to west, so the water from Pensacola and Perdido Bays also affects the clarity of the water.

You'll still have a great time there. Just don't plan on arriving on a Friday afternoon/evening as the traffic heading down 59 to Gulf Shores can be pretty bad.

If you like history/aviation be sure to visit the National Museum of Naval Aviation aboard Pensacola Naval Air Station....and if you pick the right day, you can watch the Blue Angels practice their flying...and it's all FREE!!!

http://www.naval-air.org/intro.html

http://www.navy.com/about/navylife/onduty/blueangels/practice/

The base is about 30-40 minutes from Gulf Shores.

Another vote for the museum. It really is great!

 

[RonnieJo66]

My Mom works at the Welcome Center for The Gulf Shores. If you would like any brochures...pm me and I will forward them to my Mom .

 

[nursetink]

Another vote for Orange beach. We usually stay at Phoenix VII and also rent from Brett Robinson.

Don't forget to visit the oulet mall in Foley, Alabama.

 

[Conservative Hippie]

Perdido is really nice, and just minutes into FL from AL.

 

[punkin]

†hank you all so much. I guess I have a lot of research to do.